Sunday, June 20, 2010

I know we went on our honeymoon like 3 months ago, so this is all old news but I needed to put it up anyway so I remember what we did. I'm just a little slow with the blogging thing is all.

We stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore in Oahu. It was an all inclusive resort with the most beautiful views of the ocean. The landscaping was fantastic and every room had an ocean view. In fact, one of our walls was entirely made of glass. We had the most incredible sunrises and sunsets!!! The beaches and snorkeling were fantastic too. The only downer of the trip was the random trade-winds they had that week. They were so strong we'd get pelted with sand whenever we went to the beach. So we found other things to do most of the time. Boy do I want to go back!!!

We did a terrific job of playing the "newly wed" card so people would want to take pictures of us. We met some pretty nice ones actually. This was at Turtle Beach where all of the huge turtles feed and lay out on the beach.

This is Brutus! Apparently the turtles are all named? We thought the name was fitting! He was pretty sweet! What a life.

Of course we had to stop at the best Hawaiian Shave (without the "d") Ice place in the world!!! Yes, in the world! We got the Hawaiian - pineapple, coconut, and banana - with ice cream of course and to top it all off, they pour heavy cream over the top. We walked a lot so I didn't feel too badly about it. We even got to buy some for some of the Elders in the area that came in to the store.

Dole Plantation of course! We were too cheap to ride the train around the plantation, so we just wandered around the gardens and took pictures of all the random stuff. The process of growing pineapples is mind-blowing.

How does that heavy fruit stay on top of the bush to grow? I don't get it.

Ok for those of you who haven't been to the Kahuku Grill in Kahuku, repent! Seriously, Justin was in love at first bite. It's actually owned by an LDS couple who live there and most of the employees are BYU-Hawaii students. Everything there is incredible. I don't know what they do to their meat and ribs, but it immediately became Justin's favorite restaurant anywhere! Their coconut shrimp were to die for and their portion sizes were...well, way over the top. But, it's Hawaii, so what can I expect?

We even had time for some spirituality so we stopped at the temple. It was actually closed for cleaning and renovation, so we didn't have to feel guilty about not going in, but it was nice to stop by at least.

Next we made our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We hit up all the "Islands" and most of the smaller shows. We learned how to husk coconuts, make coconut milk, start fire with sticks, beat on drums, and climb coconut trees. Too bad we don't have any of those around here. Our skills are going to get rusty. Guess we'll just have to go back! ;)

We even got sweet tattoos!

We finished off the evening by going to the main event - the Luau dinner and show. My friend Moana Mouga was a dancer in the show so she got us fantastic tickets. The show with dancers and music was phenomenal! It was the perfect Polynesian experience.

The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately we were unaware that they were closing the memorial for a few weeks for construction so everyone - and their dogs - were there that day. This meant that they took all the tickets for the day and we weren't actually able to go out to the Arizona. I had been a couple of years ago with Paul and Amy, but Justin had never been and this was one of the things he was thinking forward to the most. He was so disappointed. Again, another reason we will just have to return.

Our last day in Hawaii was spent in Honolulu. We had delicious burgers at Cheese Burgers in Paradise and walked around the beach. Then we got on a charter boat and went parasailing. Other than Justin's sudden spell of sea-sickness, it was fantastic! He was fine until it was our turn to sail. (We had 3 other couples on the boat with us that we had to wait for.) He got really quiet as we were lifted off the boat. I was screaming (for fun) and loved it. He was just trying to hold it in. The captain thanked him, at the end of the trip, for not losing it all over his boat. It was a great experience but I think we'll try to go on a day that isn't so windy or on a boat that's not quite as full. Or maybe we'll just invest in some Dramamine

Oh and as a side note...we did see some pretty great mullets while we were there. This beauty was in the airport! Awesome